Envelope opening means



Oct. 10, 1933. c, THOMAS 1,930,066

ENVELOPE OPENING MEANS Filed April 24, 1930 awn/r012 Rufus C. Thomas,

Patented Oct. 10, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

The object of the invention is to provide improvements in envelopes for mailing and other purposes, and more particularly. in means for neatly, quickly and efliciently opening the same,

5 after having once been sealed, in order to expose and permit the removal of their contents.

Another object is to provide in and as a unitary part of a mailing envelope a flexible member such as a thread, string, or wire, one end of which is exposed upon the outside of one portion of the envelope when sealed, and the other end of which is suitably secured to another portion of the envelope distant from said first portion, to prevent said member from slipping longitudinally through the envelope without performing the function for which it is designed. A further and more specific object is to provide in an envelope structure a member of thread, or the like, for the purpose mentioned, said thread go being primarily secured to the envelope proper by one or more stitches at its fixed end, and the opposite or finger-engaging'end of such thread extending freely from a portion of, the envelope removed from that of said fixed end, while the free end of said member if desired may be retained in normal projecting relation by also stitching an adjacent intermediate portion to said envelope structure.

Still another object is to provide in such an an envelope structure a thread or the like, two

spaced portions of which are stitched, or similarly secured, to and through the body of the envelope, and at least one such stitched portion being angularly disposed with respect to a neighgg boring crease-or fold in which the thread lies, so that in pulling upon the thread'the envelope body is torn, out, or otherwise severed, along such angular stitched portion with the result that a laterally free tab is provided for aiding in the 40 opening of the cut end of the envelope.

With these and other objects in mind the present invention comprises further details of construction and operation, which are fully brought out in the following description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. l is a perspective view of an envelope comprising one embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 is a similar view of the same envelope with its several sections separated one from another when they are ordinarily secured together by adhesive along their adjacent edge portions; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of an end portion of an envelope in which is contained a modified form of the invention; Fig. 4 is a perspective fragmentary view similar to Fig. 2 but showing the modification of Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 but of a still further modification of the invention.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, any well-known form of envelope is shown as comprising an unbroken address or normal front sectionl, bot- 0 tom flapz, side flaps 3 and a top or closure 4, the bottom and side flaps 2 and 3 being normally secured together by adhesive along their adjacent overlapping edge, portions as shown in Fig. 1, while the closure flap-4 may. atfirst' be raised to 5 the position shown in Fig. 2, to expose the interior of the envelope, after which adhesive along its free edge portions may be softened in order to secure it in the closed position shown in Fig. l.

. The invention as shown .in this first embodi- 7 ment comprises a relativelyslender thread, wire, or similar flexible member 5, extending along the inner surface of one of theend creases 6 and having .a looped end portion 7,'which extends around one end of the adjacent side flap, and through an aperture 8 in the latter, in order to tie its free end to the body portion of the member and thus complete the loop, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. Theopposite end of said member extends outwardly from the inte- 30 rior of the envelope, between the adjacent por-. tions of the said side and closure flaps, and

thence comprises a short outer portion 9, which may extend substantially along the crease 10 of said closure flap,-whence it passes inwardly 35 through an aperture 10 and merges into an inner straight portion 11, which extends preferably diagonally across a portion and upon the inner side of the closure fiap. Finally, this straight end portion is secured by means of one 90 or more stitches 11 to said closure flap and terminates in a freely extending end portion 12, which is adapted to be manually engaged after the closure flap has been sealed, in order to operate the device to open and expose the contents of the envelope.

In thus causing the device to functioma pull upon the free end portion 12 results in tearing out the single-thread stitch or stitches 11 and straight portion 11, until the outside portion 9 of the thread or wire is tensioned, after which a continued pull upon said free end causes said thread or wire to cut the envelope along the crease 6, since the looped end 7 is fixed, thus exposing the interior of the envelope to view and permitting the' extraction of articles therefrom. The cutting of the envelope it should be stated may stop at the aperture 8,'or may continue until the thread or wire is entirely sepa- 11 rated from the envelope and the latter is cut the full length of the crease 6.

Referring to Figs. 3 and 4, the modification of the invention is shown as comprising an envelope having parts similar to those illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. However, in this instance a thread or wire 13 is shown as being positioned along the inner surface of the crease 6, but at one end passing outwardly from the normally formed envelope between the adjacent portions of the side and bottom fiaps 3 and 2, as shown in Fig. 4, beyond which the end portion 14 of said thread or wire is stitched to any suitable portion of the envelope, as for instance substantially along the line of said crease, as also shown in Fig. 4. The opposite end portion of this flex- I ible member 13 extends outwardly from the normally formed envelope between the adjacent portions of the side and closure fiaps 3 and 4, and thence comprises a short outer section 15, which may extend substantially along the crease 10 of said closure fiap, whence it merges into a stitched section 16 preferably extending diagonally across a portion of the closure flap, when it terminates in a freely extending end portion 17, which is adapted to be manually engaged after the closure fiap has been sealed, in order to operate the device to open the envelope.

The operation of this modified form of the invention is similar to that hereinbefore' described, thefree end portion 1'7 being manually gripped and pulled, with the result that the single thread stitches 16 are pulledout of, and consequently cut, the envelope fiap 4 along a predetermined line, after which a continued pull upon said free end causes said thread or wire to cut the envelope along the crease 6, since the stitched end 14 is fixed, thus exposing the inter-ior of'the envelope to view and permitting the extraction of paper or other articles therefrom. In both forms of the device thus described, assuming that the envelope has been closed and the fiap 4 sealedin the position shown in Figs. 1 and 3, operation of either form of the invention serves in addition to cutting and opening the envelope along the crease 6, to' provide a tab 18, which, if desired-may be manually engaged by ones fingers in order to both open, or enlarge the end opening in, the envelope, by tearing away a portion of the envelope, as for instance along oneof the dot-and-dash lines 19.

In the case of either form of the invention herein described, it will at once be recognized that the additional cost of envelopes so constructed is extremely slight, especially when considering the highly desirable method of opening an envelope when one does not have at hand a suitable knife or paper cutter, and obviating the frequent necessity, otherwise, of tearing off the end of the envelope with a frequent tendency in such cases to also tear the contents thereof.

Referring finally to Fig. 5 of the drawing, a portion of an envelope is represented as comprising the same sections 1 to 4 inclusive, as hereinbefore described, and the end flap 3 connected to the frontal section 1 along the crease line 6. In this form of the device an elastic member comprising preferably a thread or light-weight cord passes from a freely extending end portion 20 through an aperture 21, in or adjacent to the crease 6, and thence along the inner surface of said crease and ultimately outwardly through a second aperture 22, whence said thread is looped around the end of the fiap 3 and again enters the interior of the envelope (when formed in normal manner), thence passing again along the inner surfaceof thegcrease 6, forming thereby two parallel severing strands 23, the lastnamed of which finally passes outwardly from the envelope between the adjacent portions of the flap 3 and closure fiap 4, to provide a second freely extending portion 24, which is adapted to be tied to the corresponding portion 20, by means of a knot 25. After this type of envelope .is formed in normal manner, merely engaging looped portion is available for manual engagement, similar to that at the opposite end of the lateral flap 3. Still again, this thread instead of comprising a completely closed loop, may be secured at the normal lower end of the flap 3 by means of a loop such as is shown, but thence comprising a single line along the inner side of the crease 6, the free end portion of such strand being then stitched to the envelope structure in alignment with, or adjacent to, the opposite end portion of said crease. Such modifications provide for cutting the envelope merely along the line of the crease 6, without in any way cutting, severing, or otherwise mutilating a portion of the. closure 4:, end fiap 3, or bottom fiap2.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patentv of the United States is:--

An envelope, comprising a body portion having an end crease and a closure fiap connected to said body along a creased line angularly disposed with respect to said first crease, and a flexible member having one portion fixed with respect to said body, and joined thereto adjacent to one end of said end crease whence said member extends across a portion of the interior of said, body adjacent to said endcrease, and thence extends outwardly from the interior of said body and diagonally across a portion of said flap, said member being looped through said flap in spaced relation to said end crease, toprevent accidental displacement with respect thereto, and to leave a, portion of said flap between said end crease and the looped portion of said member in said flap, a pull upon the free end of said member operating to out said flap diagonally in one direction and thence to cut the end crease of the envelope body in a different direction to provide a freely extending finger-engageable tab and open the end portion of the envelope.

RUFUS C. THOMAS. 

